Oklahoma County prosecutors Tuesday filed domestic abuse charges against a man who told a national television audience he punched, kicked and choked his girlfriend, court records show.

Photo courtesy “Dr. Phil” show

Timothy Dean Cruz, 25, of Oklahoma City, is accused of assaulting Brittnay Roberts, of Edmond, over a two-year period beginning in March 2011, records show. He is charged with seven counts of domestic abuse, including two by strangulation.

Edmond police began building their case against Cruz in May after the woman told investigators she and Cruz had appeared on an episode of the “Dr. Phil” show titled “Broken Bones, Broken Hearts and Broken Engagements?”

On the show, which re-aired Monday, Cruz acknowledged that he can't control his rage, and admitted choking Roberts while holding their 6-month-old daughter. The woman characterized Cruz as “evil, abusive and unfaithful,” even though she is considering marrying him.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Cruz apologized to the woman for physically hurting and choking her. The apology occurred during a phone conversation recorded by police. When she asked Cruz if he was being honest on the TV show, he replied “Yes … everything I said on the show was absolutely 100 percent, I mean honest to God true,” police reported.

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Tim Willert is a native Californian with Oklahoma ties who covers education. Prior to moving to Oklahoma in June 2011, he was as an editor for FOXSports.com in Century City, Calif., and reported on courts for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and...